Is hospitality to blame for its own staffing crisis?

Is this now the time for reckoning upon an industry notorious for poor working conditions and low pay?

Corona changed hospitality. Not the beer (oooh, now I want beer), the virus! COVID-19 shut venues across the world and saw staff ousted at unprecedented levels. Furlough saved many in exchange for financial burden on businesses. But as reopening loomed, venues reported a recurring theme; staff having new jobs elsewhere. Once loyal employees were criticised for being selfish. The pariahs lambasted for ‘playing the system’ by claiming furlough whilst working elsewhere at a cost to their original employer.

I can’t say I blame them; no matter how much my business head says this was taking advantage. Let’s be honest: if you had the chance to earn 80% of a wage for doing nothing, and earning a wage in another industry at the same time, wouldn’t you? It became the chance many needed at trying a new role in a new industry, whilst retaining the security of your existing wage and without having to quit a job you already knew well. It became the paid sabbatical many needed to reassess their careers.

I also understand business owners annoyance as they face opening with no staff. More so after having spent months bearing a large financial cost for keeping them on furlough. Particularly for those smaller family businesses; it would feel like a kick in the teeth.

Hospitality is a demanding and often under-appreciated industry.

It is no secret that guests can be demanding; and with piles of legislation governing the industry it can be a minefield for staff to navigate. Add in the industry standard minimum wage for most of the ‘on the floor’ roles and you can see why people don’t want to return. Especially if they can earn the same, or more, stacking shelves in B&M bargains or Aldi with nay a skid-mark to be scrubbed. That is the reality for many. Who wouldn’t prefer a job that doesn’t have the demands of hospitality? In a positive way it does mean those who remain are likely more passionate about staying within the industry.

Staff in hospitality also face physical demands: walking miles every day and the constant bending and carrying of areas like events, restaurant and housekeeping. Spending over eight hours a day on your feet in often uncomfortable shoes is not an enticing prospect. These are also roles rife with performance targets that quantify performance to numbers on a spreadsheet.

We have created an environment where the term Human Resources has never been so apt; staff often feeling no more than resources to be consumed. This is one of the brutal truths that many need to understand from their teams, yet seem so reluctant to face.

Then there are the hours

Early starts, late finishes, AFD’s. Is it any wonder kitchens struggle for chefs when it is not uncommon to see them pulling shifts in excess of 12 hours a day in hot, sweaty environments?

The systematic removal over the years of extra pay for bank holidays or overtime created a labour-intensive environment with minimal contractual reward. By removing the incentive to work for longer, it has become an industry ever reliant on the good will of people to keep staffed; even worse often playing on the fear of job loss if staff don’t do the extra hours. The 40-hour contracts where you are told that you “won’t be expected to do more than about 50 hours or so a week” are of no real attraction either; I have been subject to these conversations myself in the past. Yet these are still standards the industry holds itself to. They are repeated patterns I have seen time and time again in over twenty-five years in the trade. The same for the EU Working Time Regulations where very few managers have been discouraged from agreeing they will work more than 48 hours a week on average. HR Managers themselves saying tropes such as ‘its how the industry is’ or ‘it will never happen but just in case’ and ‘its expected for all management roles as you will be required to work extra hours’. Management roles in the industry are expected to continuously submit to long hours and six or seven day working weeks. In some macabre way this is often framed as the only way to succeed in the industry; those unwilling to submit fully in both body and soul to the succubus of corporate demand will never taste success. People are pushed in to burning out as the only way they can possible succeed.

It is also an industry obsessed with zero-hour contracts. The one-way street where staff are expected to be available every minute of every day at the drop of a hat. In return they get no guarantee of hours at all and could do anything from 0 to 100 hours in a week. I appreciate the business benefits of having flexible payroll and the occasions that zero-hour contracts actually suit employee lifestyles (which are few and far between). All too often staff are seen as unloyal for not accepting a last minute shift, as though the employee is the problem. They are not. This lack of stability, coupled with high expectations of drop-everything commitment and loyalty, is seen by many as unfair. Yet still we blindly charge ahead with the hope that people will continue desperately begging us for hours. The employee playing the part of Oliver Twist and the employer Mr Bumble, as the discord between employer and employee grows and the attitude of ‘be grateful for what you get’ becomes ever more pervasive. Ask zero-hour contract staff what they want, truly want, and many will simply just want guaranteed hours.

But the tips are good… right?

Ummmm… not really for most; especially when service charges are subject to administration fees by employers. Oh yeah, its true! In some cases these charge are 25% or more (I worked for a company charging 25%). The same deduction applying for tips or gratuities. In many cases this is just seen by staff as a racket for companies to cream extra revenue from customers (yes, I have also worked for a company where service charge was part of the budgeted revenue). Some say they use the service charge to provide better pay to staff. But are simply masking the fact they pay a low base pay. It is a horrid import from the USA where staff ultimately rely on tips to top up their wage. It also makes the books look good – higher revenue from service charges contributing to payroll, meaning percentages are better and company performance financially is boosted.

Except in the UK people don’t like to tip and it is questionable whether it should be accepted that a company charges diners extra for simply providing a service that should be factored in to the purchase price – Tesco don’t charge an extra 12.5% for going through a manned till rather than self service; so you can see how the public may be reluctant to pay these charges. I could rant on this for hours, especially surrounding the ethical side of this. Some employers frame service charge as a kind of performance related bonus; but many staff simply don’t see it this way. Instead they see it purely as a means for the company to get more money out of them.

Don’t even start me on companies that have returned people from furlough on less pay than they were on before furlough. Yup. Oh don’t get me wrong; I think they are tosspots of the highest order! I have seen this in many hotels already, and we are not talking your budget crap-hole where your door lock is a piece of string around a hook; I mean large swanky hotels with huge reputations, providing luxury stays and entertaining the elite of society. The kind where A-listers sneak in through the back door to avoid paparazzi. All this while the business is giving their staff the choice of redundancy, or keeping your job but taking a pay cut of up to 20%.

Roles were condensed – sales, revenue and marketing teams were culled like businesses removing a diseased limb. The survivors suddenly became regional managers on the same salary. They may have had a couple of grand extra bunged their way, but giving someone a £2k pay rise whilst saving over £100k in payroll by cutting teams, is nothing more than a sleight of hand move that creates a false economy in the long term. I get why it happened, but that doesn’t mean I have to agree.

Yet despite ALL this; some operators still wonder what the problem is?

The truth is this – hospitality has become an industry reliant on low cost labour. Profit margins have been squeezed to incredulous levels and salaried roles have become the brunt-bearers of an industry led by spreadsheets rather than service. It is a kind of labour pandemic. It is not exclusive to hospitality; speak to those in social care and you will see similar arguments and working conditions.

So how do we fix it?

There is no magic wand. Increasing wages is a sticking plaster. The truth is that for each study saying that minimum wage is a good thing, there is another saying it is a bad thing.

But minimum wage has become a standard. It has become a de facto part of the industry where people often only see a wage increase through promotion or legal requirement, rather than their productivity or value add to the business. And those on minimum wage often feel like they work hardest, for the least.

There are talks of skills gaps; an argument revisited every few years. The lack of government support for specific skills has grown over the years – vocational qualifications in areas such as reception became ‘customer service’ and roles like Housekeeping and Events were practically brushed aside.

Yet whilst we could pay people based on their skills, we open up the old debate that is equality in pay – why should two people doing the same job be paid differently? Every sword is double-edged.

The one area many can improve is their employee treatment.

No-one wants to go to work and hate it! It really is that simple. Decisions taken at head office impact the person on the floor. All too often without consulting them. Without understanding the working environment, how can you expect to keep employees happy and passionate? Ask yourself how many of your management team can check a guest in, process payments, cook breakfast or clean a room in twenty minutes. If these are the standards you set your team, your managers should not be relying on ‘I have done my time in that job’ to excuse ever doing it again. This only says they don’t truly understand the changing nature of the jobs people are doing day in, day out, under their command. And yes, I am a General Manager who spends hours of every day in my departments, doing these jobs and experiencing what it is like for my teams. It is not being a leader, it is simply understanding what they go through every shift and making sure we are able to adapt and support as they need.

Be honest, be open, stay true to your word – three basic things that employees will value. Don’t say its a 40 hour contract and expect them to work 80. Pay them overtime or give time back in lieu. The truth on this point being that if you cannot let your employees stick to their contract hours, then you are failing in managing them and giving them the support they need. You are responsible for your employees being given the support and tools they need to complete their jobs in their contracted hours.

This is where hospitality has failed over the years and slowly slid in to become an employer of need rather than passion for many. Offering environments where staff get baked potatoes and beans every day as staff lunch, doesn’t live up to the expectations of ‘meals included’ in your staff benefits list. Even more so when staff are actually excited about getting leftover conference buffet snacks from an event; because even food saved from going in the bin is better than the meals they have every day! You may think this is a ridiculous statement, but I have seen it repeated time and time again in hotel after hotel.

Discounts at shops is another one; come on, I worked in hotels with these benefits for over a decade and never, not once, used this scheme nor had any employee ask me how to access use it. Because we all know we can get better discounts through Google searches. Yet businesses would sooner pay a monthly fee per staff member for this, than pay for better food. Oh and stop with staff appreciation weeks – appreciate your staff every day! Trust me when I say no-one really cares that they get a mars bar and can of pop once a year when they are struggling with systemic failures to provide them what they need to do their jobs.

In conclusion:

Until hospitality puts the same energy in to looking after its staff, as it does looking after its guests, the cycle of poor staff retention will continue.

In my next article here, I look at what options hospitality has, and if they will work!